Religions (IWR) in Beijing, which many years later became the largest center
for religious studies. But in the 1960s and 1970s, the word ‘criticism’ was
understood only in terms of absolute negation, severe attack, complete
suppression, and an utter clearing away.
Two years later even ‘criticism’ became unnecessary and impossible for
academic institutions, because with the outbreak of the ‘Cultural Revolution’
(1966–1976), every sign of any religion was swept away from Chinese society
and everyone associated with the Institute of World Religions, as well as with
every other academic institution, was sent out to the countryside to do manual
labor. During this ‘revolution’, launched by the highest political authority, an
attempt was made to destroy all forms of traditional culture, including all
religions, and every order of social life was disrupted. So the fall of religious
studies was just like the fall of a leaf on a tree trembling in the winter wind.
The revival of religious studies
With the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the culture-destroying ‘Cultural
Revolution’ came to an end. After a two-year struggle against Mao’s interim
successor, Hua Guofeng, who clung to the old ways, Deng Xiaoping’s new
policy of ‘reform and opening’ was established at the end of 1978. This really
was a springtime that brought a revival of social life to China.
The new policy led to the lifting of the prohibition on religious activities
and a cessation of the persecution of religious people, at least for members of
selected religions who cooperated with the government. The next decade
witnessed a rapid revival of religions. Due to the long suppression by force,
the serious chaos in values, the disturbances of the past (particularly during
the ‘Cultural Revolution’), the spiritual crisis, and disillusion with the
revolution, all religions, especially Protestant Christianity and Buddhism, grew
with a speed which surprised the whole world. Such a growth and its effects
could not escape the attention of intellectuals as well as of some officials. Many
intellectuals were undergoing a reorientation of values, and it was natural for
some of them to turn to the study of religions, which they supposed might
provide something to meet the spiritual demands of the people. After a few
years, some became professional scholars.
At the same time, with the gradual loosening and opening up of conditions
for academic research, professional scholars of religions began to confront their
objects of study and to ‘have the courage to use their reason’ (sapere aude) in
thinking and judging. Such an attitude helped to bring about some liberation
of thinking. Many scholars considered religions in accordance with the evidence
rather than the rigid, dogmatic interpretation of the Marxist theory of religion.
All of this created subjective conditions for the revival of religious studies in
the 1980s and its development in the 1990s and beyond.
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
2
3111
4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1
2
3
4
35
6
7
8
9
40111
42222
3
411
CONTINENTAL EAST ASIA
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